The Wales squad for June’s World Rugby U20 Championship in Italy has been announced.

The tournament runs from the 2^nd June to the 20^th, with Wales in a tough group that includes both England and France, as well as Japan.

The squad contains six players from last year’s squad, wing Josh Adams, prop Luke Garrett, Daffyd Howells, Tyler Morgan, Tom Williams, and captain Rory Thornton.

There are also four players who were not part of the U20 squad that performed well during this season’s 6 Nations, which included a win over England, with Leon Brown, Seb Davies, Lloud Lewis, and Lee Taylor all coming into the squad.

Announcing his squad, Wales U20 coach coordinator Allan Lewis said:

“Our first two games are going to be real tests of our mettle. We will have to perform very well to beat France on the opening day and England are double world champions at this level so although we beat them in the Six Nations, and we will draw some confidence from that, they are the team to beat in this competition and this will be a different challenge.”

“We’ve got good experience in the squad and the Six Nations enabled us to find out what we needed about most of the selected players. We have an established front row and the scrum is one of our strengths. While it’s always unfortunate for any player to miss out through injury at this stage, such as Joe Davies, that situation means other players have a chance to be exposed to this level of international rugby.”

Wales U20:

Forwards

Luke Garrett (Dragons/Cross Keys),  Keagan Bale (Dragons/Cross Keys),  Dillon Lewis (Blues/Pontypridd),  Joe Jones (Blues/Cardiff),  Leon Brown (Dragons/Cross Keys),  Ryan Elias (Scarlets/Carmarthen),  Liam Belcher (Blues/Pontypridd),  Torin Myhill (Scarlets/Llanelli),  Rory Thornton (Ospreys/Bridgend),  Adam Beard (Ospreys/Aberavon),  Seb Davies (Blues/Pontypridd),  Lee Taylor (Carmarthen),  Tom Phillips (Scarlets/Llanelli),  Ollie Griffiths (Dragons/Newport),  Harrison Keddie (Dragons/Ebbw Vale),  Jon Fox (Ospreys/Swansea).

Backs

Tom Williams (Blues/Pontypridd),  Kieran Hardy (Scarlets/Carmarthen),  Jarrod Evans (Blues/Pontypridd),  Daniel Jones (Scarlets/Carmarthen),  Garyn Smith (Blues/Pontypridd),  Lloyd Lewis (Dragons/Newport),  Tyler Morgan (Dragons/Newport),  Owen Watkin (Ospreys/Bridgend),  Joshua Adams (Scarlets/Llanelli),  Joe Thomas (Ospreys/Swansea),  James Whittingham (Blues/Pontypridd),  Dafydd Howells (Ospreys/Neath).